Microsoft Threatens Audit of 24 Largest School Districts in Oregon and Washington

Microsoft has given the 24 largest school districts in Oregon and Washington 60 days to prove they are in licensing compliance. This is perfectly legal, but the districts will be forced to hire extra people to conduct the audit, which will cost one district ten teaching positions. Microsoft can legally demand an audit of any person or organization that uses any of its software. In this case the districts have 60 days. If, in that time, they are unable to perform the audit in time, Microsoft will come perform the audit. If at that point any unlicensed software is found, the districts will have to pay for the audit, the licenses they need to be fully licensed, as well as fines. So on top of the high price of Microsoft software, you may at any time be forced to spend even more money proving that you bought it. Hmmm. If you work for a school, you might suggest they switch to open source and free software. You don’t get audited. You can read more at this link.